Front panel of VK6RTH....Tony VK6YAG did the front panel improvements
| There are 2 voice repeaters at Tic Hill and
one digipeater VK6RTH 2 metres 146.200 receive 146.800 transmit VK6RTH 70 centimetres 433.225 receive 438.225 transmit DTMF equipment power on/off control Circuits are available for the 2 metre repeater only at this time. |
VK6RTH issues & modifications....2003
by Tony VK6YAG
During 2003, VK6RTH 2 metres, had a number
of issues, which were in simple terms, a dead receiver along with a
previous history of the repeater's mute remaining open for periods of
time. Tony, VK6YAG, took on the task of sorting out the problems with
VK6RTH 2 metres.
The receiver was dead and had to be replaced. This was easier than trying to sort out what was wrong with the receiver board. Lightning damage was suspected and this could have resulted in several faults with the receiver board hence the easy option of replacing the receiver board. The next "fault" condition was the mute remaining open with a noisy signal for periods of time. Tony tracked this down to the URC101 control board, which it was discovered, radiated a low level carrier on 146.200 MHz (and some other frequencies). The signal did wander a bit in frequency, but when it was on 146.200 MHz, the mute would open on VK6RTH.  URC101 control board shield...VK6RCT shown Tony
has since fitted the copper screen box to VK6RCT & VK6RAV
 VK6RTH URC101 control board with top screen cover removed. Also there were some issues with low battery voltage at Tic Hill. Changes to equipment at the site had seen the power budget rise considerably and the solar system did not last well enough through the winter. A 9 volt regulator was added to supply power to several of the circuit boards. There is a good low volt drop out 10 regulator in the FM880, but the 9 volt low drop out regulator gave some extra head room, while the battery supply problems persisted during winter. Also the speaker amplifier and weak mute board had failed as well, so Tony installed a speaker amp in place of this board and a separate weak mute board which is now located in the receiver compartment. Also installed was a audio mute switch for the speaker audio and the transmitter audio.  Extra boards inside VK6RTH....Audio muting & weak signal mute  New speaker amp...Was speaker amp & weak signal mute Transmitter frequency drift VK6RTH
had also been showing transmitter frequency drift of as much as 5 KHz.
The drift was tracked down to the transmitter crystal and it was found
to be temperature sensitive.
Tony fitted a small temperature controlled oven that raises and maintains the crystal at a constant temperature, about 40 degrees C.  VK6RTH temperature controlled TX oscillator surrounded by styrofoam. |
| VK6RTH 2 metres is of the FM880 design. For
a detailed description of the FM880 design go to FM880 There are some unique differences with the VK6RTH FM880. This is as a result of the repeater operating for a long time at Tic Hill and having a range of situations that required circuit additions. For a period of time VK6RTH 2 metres had to be changed to CTCSS input due to interference to the repeater. A 123 Hz CTCSS tone was required to activate the repeater for normal voice operation. To inform users of the change a voice message was added. If the repeater was triggered without the required CTCSS tone a voice message was transmitted to let users know of the CTCSS requirement You could not talk through the repeater just trigger the message. Also added to VK6RTH 2 metres is DTMF control of other equipment. The 12V power can be switch on and off to all equipment (except VK6RTH 2 metres) at Tic Hill. |
| The circuit above is of the logic interface for the voice message that was on VK6RTH many years ago due to a CTCSS requirement. The actual digital voice unit's physical location is unknown. The circuit is included as the interface circuit above is still in VK6RTH 2 metres. |